It's the last time Serdra gave me, but not by much.
　The fingertips of the skill 'Reading' feel that there are no more pages left.

　--I know that this is the last page.

　Blood floods from my chest and spreads to the depths of the earth.
　A pool of blood had formed that made me want to cover my eyes, as if I had knocked over a full vessel. Nearby, the world's largest tree, which had lost its core, was beginning to creak and fall. Soon, this lowest level would collapse.

'Hey ......, still ....... Are you listening to me ......?

　Before that, I asked the question into the air.
　To my 'one and only destiny' who has been watching over me for a long time--.

　I just can't hear the response.
　You can't hear it.
　"I'm going to die alone," because it's been decided for a thousand years.

　But I loosen my mouth with confidence and continue on.

I want to save ......, Hitaki-chan. You didn't understand in the end, but I'm really grateful that you gave it to me, so ......

　I fought for it with everything I had.
　So, please don't give up on Kanami either. Even if it's impossible in terms of [reason], even if it's blocked by [strings], even if [everything] is in someone else's hands, I want you to seriously challenge me. I'm sure Kanami can be a better performer than I am.

'Tiara-sama also wished to repay me for the favor I once gave away ....... Because the 'adventure' that was given away to us was fun for those of us who were trapped in it. Our book was really fun. ......

　I reach out to that 'adventure'.
　It was the only thing I had with me at all times, without the useful power of 'possessions'.
　It was a book that I kept in my pocket - a bundle of papers that I can't yet say I carried with me. It touches the record of my 'adventures' that I've been accumulating little by little over the past few years.

　My Memoirs, which I had tried to bind but never managed to do, still had some space left over.
　Although it is titled the final chapter, it is a blank piece of paper that has yet to be written down. There are many things I want to write in there. But I don't have time to write the rest now.

　That's the last of my 'unconsciousness'--
　It will never be.
　This book will be completed even without me.

　--Kanami will write the rest of the book.

　And as long as Kanami continues to write, My Memoirs will continue.
　The story will continue even if one of the "Only One Destiny" is missing.
　There was such a book in that cluttered, blue-sky classroom when I was trapped in the cathedral. The last page had a happy ending and they were very happy and laughing. So I always kept that book within my reach, to read it again someday--

'Oh, ....... Now, I think I can understand a little bit about how everyone feels. A thousand years later, all the 'things that steal reason' were waiting for Kanami, not Tiara-sama or Hitaki-chan (・・・・・・・・). Even though their own last page was set in stone, they wanted to be spun by Kanami: ......

　If you want to color the last page with victory, you can ask Tiara-sama and Hitaki-chan, who control the 'thread', to help you.
　But they all turned to Kanami together.

　It was because he was weak, and because they believed that he would cherish their defeats more than anyone else.
　With Kanami, he deserved to lose and be entrusted with it.
　With Kanami, he deserves to trust his own life and his true "magic" to Kanami...

"-- Trust in that everyone's 'magic', Kanami.

　That's the last thing I wanted to tell you.
　I want you to believe that Tiara-sama and my 'magic' as well.

　Kanami is the only one who can compose everyone's 'chanting' anymore.
　The true value of everyone's 'magic' was made so that only Kanami could understand it.
　For Hitaki, who always reads the book from the end - a power that he can never read.

'Ah, ah, ......'

　Now, there's nothing more to say.
　All that's left to do is close the book--.

............

　I'm still alive.
　I'm a little more stubborn than I thought I would be and I'm in a bit of trouble.

　Tiara-sama must have made it all possible for me to get out of the way. However, I just can't have this free time.
　The pain is past its limit and there is no pain.
　Only a gentle sense of accomplishment drifts through my chest.
　All further words would only be a snake's tale.

　I knew that, but the words spilled out of my vessel.

'............. ...... And, Kanami, I love you, I love you. I love you big, big time.

　I repeated what I already knew.
　And when I said it again, I was a little embarrassed. Although my face, which was pale from blood loss, didn't bleed, I felt a little bit of the body heat I had lost returning to me.

　--warm (...).

　At the end of the day, I feel really warm, warm, warm, warm.
　Like sinking into a warm sea, my consciousness slowly drops away.

　--I guess I'm at ease now.

　After all, Kanami and I are the only two people connected by the red thread of destiny.
　I love Kanami more than anyone else in the world.
　Kanami loves me more than anyone else in the world.
　That love is so heavy and deep that no one can defeat it.

　One by one, in turn, I confirmed that it will never reach Dia, Maria, Snow, that Tiara-sama, or Hitaki. Even that 'world' acknowledged [Ri].
　And at the end, when I was biting into the highest comfort level--


"------- (・・・・・・・)-- -- (・・・・)


　I received a dictated response to my serpentine 'confession' that was not supposed to be delivered.

　I can't hear it.
　But I can understand it.
　He gave me an understandable 'answer' to something that was obvious.
　That's already been the case for me--.

　Oh ......, haha.
　Inevitably, my mouth gets loose .......

　At the same time, my eyelids also loosen up.
　The strength relaxes, and little by little, ......, like a curtain, a black curtain descends on my vision, and the light gets thinner .......

　I don't feel the need to open my eyes at all anymore .......
　Because now I read one of the best sentences on the last page .......

'Yes ......, wow, servant ......--'

　I answered, and I shut my eyes.
　Behind those eyelids, I can see my 'dream'.

　One day, after all the battles are over, Kanami and I are walking through the streets of the Confederacy. We are holding hands like two lovers, laughing and happily spinning the rest of our 'adventure'.

　Believing in such a future, I let go of the book called my consciousness - and dropped it.


I love Kanami (・・・・・・・・)--


　That was the last page of Rustyala Hoosiers.
　The end that had been predetermined since I was born.
　With that sentence in my arms, I die--


◆◆◆◆◆


　And I watched it all the way through.

'Oh, ah, ......'

　I saw that battle, that defeat, that death, from so far away, so unreachable.
　But I felt it more up close and personal than anyone else. And I answered. I knew I should never say it, and yet--


　I uttered, "I love Rastiara (・・・・・・・) (・・・・)".


　That disciplined response was the last page of Rastiara.

"--I love you.
　I die holding that one sentence in my arms.
　Here and forever, Rastiara Hoosiers will continue to 'dream' --

　This was Rastiara's "dream" and I saw it with my "past vision".
　From the moment he met me - or rather, long ago, long ago, from the moment he was born, not to mention when he was a child, Rustiala had been having a dream. I'm not going to be able to say that I'm happy with it, I'm anxious without it, and that's all my life was, according to Rustyala himself.

　-- so he had no choice but to say it now.

　This is how I took care of Rastiara's death.
　However, my eyes of "past vision" are still open.
　In order not to miss Rustiala's figure even for a second, I continue to grasp the situation from the special perspective of the Dimension.
　By looking down from the air, he was able to capture Rastiara's figure clearly.

　In the center of the beautiful bright red circle of blood pools, Rastiara's long, shimmering hair is spread out in a circle, unmoving as if she were sleeping.
　He's not breathing anymore.
　His heart isn't beating.
　By all accounts, it's already ...... dead.

　The 'break' confirms that too.
　The 'world' that was watching from the same point of view as me also acknowledges the conclusion of the transaction.
　It's the establishment of the 'curse' that Aikawa Uzumi possesses, that the one she loves most will die.

　Because of that, now Rastiara's soul was captured by the 'world'. Through death by the 'curse', it was confirmed from the 'world's' reason that he would not be brought back to life no matter what.
　That's what I, who grew up as 'the one who steals the logic of the dimension', understands.

　As long as I am alive, the 'world' will never again take its eyes off Rustiala's death.
　That means that Rustiala and I will never be able to walk through the same time again.
　Little by little, the parting of Rustiala comes with the realization that we are parting ways with Rustiala.

　Looking back, Rustiala's end was the same as Nosfi's.
　Even before she was dying, she was worried about someone else, someone who wasn't her, and she had said that she wanted to help. Exactly, they shared the same blood - they were sisters who looked exactly like each other.

　And neither of those sisters would ever come back to life again.
　They both became 'replacements', so as long as I am alive, I will never see them.

　I'm not sure if there's a way to do it, but if I do, I'll be denying their wishes and their "dreams". You'll be creating a deeper "unrealized desire" than anyone else.

　I'm dizzy.
　Not sadness, but anger at the enemy for writing that mechanism into the sisters' fate.

'Yeah, that's it. ...... a lot of things.'

　The voice of the enemy who wrote those pages can be heard in the midst of my "past vision".
　It's Tiara Hoozeyers, the girl who has been using my past vision to show me the truth for so long.

　She declares it's the end, and my "past vision" fades away.

　Since I had witnessed Rastiara's end, I had no reason to resist. However, I thought that after it faded away, it would return to the present me - but that didn't happen.
　The example 'Red Thread of Fate' that is connected to me is pulling me back. I read out the 'Memoir' that Rastiara had written at this time.

　It's a record of Rastiala's 'adventure' with me .......

"--Ah, finally .......
　I finally got out of the cathedral and joined Kanami .......
　On top of that, today, for the first time in my life, I participated in the festivities.
　We all walked together and played around on the eve of the 'Nativity'!
　Everything was new to me, and everything was more fresh than I had ever read in a book. No, it was like walking into a book. The shooting, the catching of fish, the eating. We had only just met, but we were like storytelling companions at the festival.
　Once Kanami and I were alone, we talked about many things.
　The story of my original saint, Tiara-sama, and the World Tree.
　Then I tried to talk about Tiara-sama's 'magic' and found out that it didn't exist in Kanami's world ...... From there, it was all about Kanami's world, and he taught me history and science that I had never heard of before. But the one I enjoyed the most was the heroic tale.
　I still love books.
　I love books, and that's why I'm still writing my stories like this--!

　To that reminder, I reply, "It's not necessary".
　But Tiara replies, "It's necessary.

"--I had my first date with Kanami today.
　We 'confessed' to each other at the eleventh crossroads and it was our first date. ......
　We chose the labyrinth as our location. I simply wanted to be strong, but most of all because I thought it was 'just like me'. Like a heroic tale, I slashed and slashed and slashed and slashed the monsters in the labyrinth. On the way, Kanami was complaining that this wasn't a date, but when I told her that we should come up with a special move, her face immediately lit up and she began to come alive, which was interesting.
　Really, me and Kanami are kindred spirits .......
　Just talking to her was fun - and calming.
　In the end, Kanami pushed me away and we even had a hand-holding date. Just remembering that time makes my body heat up. And in the end we made a promise. I'll remember to write it down.
'--So, Kanami. Shall we continue to be together forever?
"-- Yeah. We've been together forever (・・・・・・), Rustyala.
　I promised you that.
　After all, I love Kanami. I'm not worried about that feeling of love anymore.
　Kanami likes Kanami likes Kanami likes Kanami likes Kanami, I can write as many lines as I want in here--

　You don't have to have a 'past view' to see that Rastiala is writing while blushing.

　Perhaps now Tiara is trying to show that she was confident.
　It's a good script, and she must be fancying herself as being very beautiful.

　--oh (...), stinks (・・・・).

　Just because it's good doesn't mean that Rastiala will come back to life.
　Just because you're beautiful doesn't make the 'curse' lighter.

　It just doesn't make it possible for me to deny that it's nothing more than your self-satisfaction.
　Denying this memory is the same as denying Rustyala.
　This is the story of me and Rustyala. So I can't stop it.

"--I think this is the 'final chapter' .......
　At last, we've reached the Great Sacred City with the World Tree we talked about in Chapter 1: .......
　Perhaps, but this would be our last fight. Just before that, Kanami and I talked on the balcony of the pavilion. The night before the decisive battle, we would check in with each other. One day, I would make a note of this memoir for Kanami to read again. At this time, I am certain that we will--
I'll still love Kanami, even if she's dead.
...... I can't let go of you, either. I would never let you go. Even if you die.
　That's what we swore to each other.
　Then we headed to Hoozeyers Castle, where the final battle would take place.
　In order to put away a thousand year old cause, Kanami and I will join hands--

　From here on out, it's a blank slate.
　There is no time to write it down in defeat after defeat, and there is no time to write anything down in The Memoirs.

　Tiara's reading is over.
　Then I finished 'seeing past' Las Tiara's life, and my consciousness returned to its original place.

　Not to the Fouzeyards Castle on the "mainland" but to the Fouzeyards Cathedral on the "frontier".
　Deep within it. To a stone room with only one light.

　There they are facing each other.
　Rustyala Fouzeyars and Uzumi Aikawa (me).
　But of course, Rustyala is lying there as a corpse, not moving even a twitch.

　My left hand was on top of the book she was holding - the neatly bound "Hero (...) The Memoirs of Rustyala Huseyers". Her right hand lightly gripped Rustyala's right hand. It is a completely bloodless and icy cold hand. Touching that dead temperature, I slowly pull my hand away from her.

　Acknowledging that there is no more Rustyala here, I accept only the book.
　I then return the 'answer' to her.

'Tiara ......, I can't forgive you. I don't want to forgive you .......
"Yes.

　Shortly, Tiara replied.
　It was a very monotonous response, as if it had been set in stone from the beginning. In turn (...) I'm throwing away the people who were once the 'most important thing' to me.

'I can't even forgive Yotaki for putting his hands on them. ......
"Yes.

　All the while, my gaze was fixed on Rustyala.
　Thinking back, even before the 'past vision', I had only seen her sleeping face for a long time.
　In front of her calmly sleeping face, I chant

' -- 'I only see Rustyala anymore.'
"...... Yeah.

　Ever since I entered this basement, my vision has been narrowing.
　As a result of the continued narrowing, I could finally see only one thing.

　I heard the sound of a crack in my vessel.
　Now, I have paid off all the curses and have completed my work as the one who steals the reason for the dimension.

　And as if to celebrate this, a cold air flows in from behind me.
　Caught in the act, I turn around.
　Just then, she was coming down the stairs.
　Aikawa Yotaki, the man who sent Rastiara to her death, is walking silently down the stairs. Frost like icicles rose in the wake of her walk, turning the stone floor and walls white.

　Yotaki walks through the door that was left open and enters the room.
　He throws a greeting at me as he wakes up, smiling at me.

''Good morning, brother.''
Yeah. Good morning, Yotaki.

　The usual greetings were exchanged in the usual coldness.
　No longer does my body feel frozen to the core.

'All of ......, it looks like you've finished reading,'

　Before I could start speaking, Yotaki understood the situation.
　If I looked closely, I could see a white 'thread' from the end of her long hair.
　Compared to the ground, I couldn't see them clearly. However, some of the "threads" were melting and becoming liquid, but they were definitely crawling on the ground, trying to take control of this room.

　As that white garden is being recreated again, I search for 'answers'.
　To be honest, my head is a mess, with many memories mixed in.

　But at the same time, I was calm and collected.
　Perhaps it's because the moment I came face to face with Yotaki, I recognized it as a 'battle'. The status of 'cleverness' - the magical nerves that have been 'transformed' in my body work to the limit for the victory of the 'battle'.

Oh, I saw them in turn. ...... a thousand years ago when we were called as 'Gentiles' and met the 'Apostles'. And the story of our 'adventure' with Tiara, and the story of our exit from the world after the 'world repatriation camp'. And the true meaning of my awakening in the Labyrinth a year ago. And the reason why Rastiara has been by my side ever since then...

　We've learned what we, the 'gentiles' called to another world, have done and how we've affected it.
　Most importantly, the result of that is now concentrated in this room.

I know what you did that day, and I know that you killed Rastiara. All of it.

　However, Yotaki's expression didn't change at all when he heard this.
　The only thing that was moving was the feet.
　The white 'thread' slowly eroded the ground, becoming a magical shallow water. A bunch of smooth 'threads' were wriggling in waves.

　And a few of the 'threads' ran down from under my feet.
　They twined around my legs, crawled up my waist, passed through my chest and neck, reached my head, and connected. Each of the "threads" was heavy, and I felt as if I was being chained.
　The owner of the chain asked me, anxiously.

'If you go up the stairs now, you can forget all about it. Would you like to go back up?

　Yotaki pointed to the back door he had come down from, but I gave a small shake of my head.

'There's no .......'
'Do you hate 'dreams'?　The Winter Dimension is your brother's magic. So to speak, it's a gentle illusion that your brother wanted and he created.

　Yotaki spouts off an explanation as if he had been preparing for it.
　He insists that he has no malicious intent and speaks openly, as if to say that this is the new form of 'world'.

''Within that 《Winter's Other World (Wintry Dimension)》, everyone can have certain free will. It's because all of us share the illusion, so we can spend our time the same as in reality. That's where those who were born into misfortune, such as Dia, Maria, and Snow, ...... were able to look forward little by little and walk out with a new life. Of course, that includes your brother. No lies there at all.

　Dea had gained a best friend named Franlure and was able to return to her home town.
　Maria had become sisters with Snow and had found her place as a member of the Walker family.

　That was "the world that would have actually become real if it hadn't been for that day".
　As I spent time there, I realize that that recreation was possible with Yotaki's calculation ability and the Winter's Other World (Wintry Dimension).
　To put it another way, that was made so that "as long as you don't notice it, you can lead a life exactly the same as the reality until you die".

　Of course, I can't accept that.
　Even if Yotaki had used that 《Winters' Other World (Wintry Dimension)》 with all the care and kindness he could muster, and with respect for all living things, that place was not enough.

Even at ......, there was no Rustyala.

　Now that you've found out, there's no going back.

'Your brother would understand now. It was her role until it was not there. She was made by Tiara in order to fulfill the condition of her brother's [the one she loves most dies] and disappear.

　I can still continue to explain matter-of-factly.

'This isn't just about my brother. It's better to pretend that there was never a ...... rastiaara foozeyards 'curse' for anyone -- for Dia, for Maria, for Snow, for anyone. --she's already too heavy.

　I thought that was a line that Rastiala would be overjoyed to hear.
　But from my point of view, it's all so annoying now.

'I know it may sound ruthless ......, but that's what 'made-up' dolls are. From the beginning, it was a given. There will come a time when they will be dirty, unraveled and thrown away.

　At the end of the day, we were told that we shouldn't look at it as an 'equal' because it was 'made up'.
　To that, I will only agree.

Yes, that's what I think ....... You're going to have to throw away ......, the dirty, unraveled, useless "Aikawa Uzumi (me)", and then you're going to throw it away and forget about it. Throw it away and forget it.

　Yotaki made it clear that she didn't see me as an (...) 'equal'.

　Even now she is not looking at me while talking to me.
　What she sees are calculations and plans from a thousand years ago. The only thing she sees is her own 'innate difference (skill)' of 'being able to read the book called the world backwards' that she told Tiara about. Other than that, I can see now that Yotaki doesn't believe in anything else.

"My brother is different--
"I'm a 'faker' too,

　That Youtaki's reply was also read with 'Future Vision' and immediately denied it.

　From the moment he faced Yangtaki and entered the 'battle', he had already finished deploying all the patterns of Dimension Magic 《Dimension》 without a chant. The 《Distance Mute》 was also ready to be used at any time.

　I extend my right hand to prove that I was 'making it up'.
　The object I'm inserting it into is myself.
　It's also not the heart, but the brain in the head.
　I put my magic arm into it and lightly touch it.
　Inside the brain, a long, thin 'thread' has taken root, creating a pattern like a woven grid. Magical signals ran through the magical nerves, causing my brain to interact with the outside world.

　In order to grab it, I used the power of the completed 'one that steals the reason for the dimension' to phase the dimension.

　It forcefully grasps what it cannot grasp - and even more forcefully rips it apart and pulls it out of its head.
　Even though it was a duplicate nerve, it severed what was actually connected to it. The act was accompanied by terrible pain. I'm ...... but I'm used to the pain.

　Immediately I reach for a nearby 'string' and tear it off as well.
　That is to cut off Yotaki's nerves, but her expression at the front doesn't move at all. ...... Yotaki is even more used to it than I am. On a far higher level than me, who frowned slightly.

　I speak the rest of the story while discarding the proof that I was a 'make-believe' that I tore off with 《Distance Mute》 in front of her.

''--Yotaki, there's one last question I want to ask you.

　Before I stopped being the 'ideal' 'brotherly brother', I had to ask.
　However, the magic of my 'future vision' is already reading the next page.

"--Aikawa Yotaki never trusts his brother, who is only his own 'made up' brother. Hence, he never returns anything. Nor will he ever release the two worlds he has frozen--

　Even though I know that, I listen.
　To fulfill Rastiara's will. Just for that reason alone now--